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The objective of this trip to the USA was to attend the family-reunion of the Sciaroni’s in St Louis. The clan of the family living in this town, has its origin in Biasca. In Oktober 2004 we had Ernie Sciaroni – one of the many Sciaroni’s in St Louis – as our guest with us in Tuscany where he told us with much enthusiasm about this yearly reunion . A family-reunion which is being held traditionally every second Sunday in the month of June when everybody is joining a picnic in one of the many parks of St Louis. The first time that the reunion took place was in 1960 on the occasion of the birthday of ”grandma” Louise Sciaroni-Gosebrink (1907-1990).
We left Amsterdam airport on Tuesday May 31st a couple of hours after our 4th grandchild Laureen was born. We first flew to Washington DC, where Bob en Jayne Sciaroni where waiting for us, they belong to the clan of Californian Sciaroni’s originating from Brione s/M. Just as Wil also Bob has an extensive collection of parafernalia about the family. After two wonderful days together with them, we flew further to Memphis where since about one year Bill and Ann Schultz –Sciaroni are living. They hosted us a whole week and together we explored Memphis and surroundings. City and region became world famous as the place where the “Blues” started and by Elvis Presley. Downtown Memphis in the motel where Dr Maarten Luther King was murdered, is the civil rights museum.
From Memphis to St Louis we went by Greyhound bus, which took us about six hours. In St Louis Ernie was waiting for us together with a heavy shower. Wil was surprised with a ticket for the baseball game between the Red Cardinals and the Yankees where he went to with some family members as part of a group of 90 supporters. A major game in a stadium that was totally sold out (50.000 seats), the game was won by the Red Cardinals with 8-1 . Marty was surprised by Ernie’s wife Cindy who took her to an instruction class “cake decorating”. She spent there a whole day and was really impressed. Because we stayed in total 5 days in St Louis, we were also able to explore the city. In particular the botanical garden and the Arch impressed us. The Arch is a large monument in the form of a great bow, which is a symbol of the history of the town.
Regarding the reunion on Sunday June 12th where it was all about, we can be short. Those who know Wil also know how much he must have liked this. The reunion was this time for the 45 th time !!! There were about 60 people present. Remarkably were the many young children and the close family ties between the various generations as well “horizontal” as “vertical”.
The visit to St Louis ended with a dinner at Ernie and Cindy Sciaroni’s house. Also the parents of Ernie: Ernie Sr and Mac were present. They in particular were active in showing us the particularities of the city and the surroundings, where the family Sciaroni is already living for more than a century.
Back home we had our first meeting with Laureen. |
